Unstuffed Squash Recipe

My wife loves stuffed squash. So, to oblige her I will sometimes make a simple stuffed squash using sausage, rice and a mixture of veggies, usually a chiffonade of kale or chard and some steamed carrots, sweet potatoes or or other tuber.

The thing about stuffed squash is that you have to basically precook everything, fill the squash and bake it until its tender and the filling is hot. Which depending on the squash isn’t too long, but the filling slows down the baking and pre-baking doesn’t seem to make any sense to me.

Might as well bake it all the way if you’re going to the trouble to pre-bake it, and besides with all the baking and sauteing and baking again we’re talking 45-60 minutes.

So I decided to do a little deconstruction. Add brown rice to rice cooker, that gives me a twenty minute timeline. Which is about what I have to get dinner together for us all to sit down before the hangries start up. Meanwhile, heat the oven, saute some onions and garlic along with a bit of fresh oregano and thyme, bake off some sweet potato and delicata squash while sauteing some Italian sausage. Chop some parsley. Rice cooker bings, fluff rice together with chopped sweet potato, squash and sausage. Done.

Now that’s a delicious 20 (30 minute total with rice rest and fluffing) dinner for any day.

This is a great recipe to substitute quinoa or farro for the rice and acorn or butternut for the squash. Feel free to mix up the herbs to make it your own. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a dash of vinegar.

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice

2 cups stock or water

Pinch of salt

1 medium delicata squash, halved, seeds removed

1 medium to large sweet potato, brushed and halved

2 Tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1/2 onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme

1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano

1/4 lb Italian sausage

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions

Add rice and water to rice cooker or bring to a boil and simmer with the lid on.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Oil sweet potato and squash, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake until tender, about 15-20 minutes.

In a large saute pan over medium heat add coconut oil. When hot add onions and saute until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Toss in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Pierce squash and potato with a pairing knife to test for tenderness. Should slide through easily. Remove from oven and chop into bite-sized pieces (you can peel off the skin from the potato if you want).

Toss rice in a large bowl. Add squash, potatoes and sausage mixture, toss in parsley and mix.